Human Rights Guide

Case

Tali v. Estonia

(Prisons – Physical restraint)
European Court of Human Rights
13 February 2014

Facts

The applicant, Mr. Tali, was serving a prison sentence. After a physical confrontation with prison officers he was strapped to a restrained bed for more than 3 hours to calm down.

Complaint

Mr.Tali alleged that the use of restraint bed violated Article 3 of the Convention. 

Court's ruling

The Court underlined that measures of restraint can never be used as a means of punishment, but rather to avoid self-harm or serious danger to other individuals or to prison security. In the present case the Court pointed that no evidence showed that after the physical confrontation with the guards when Mr. Tali was locked in a single-occupancy disciplinary cell, he posed a threat to himself or others.

The Court also did not accept that hourly medical check or his reported aggressive behaviour rendered strapping to a bed justified. The period of three and a half hours for which he had been strapped to the restraint bed had therefore by no means been negligible and his prolonged immobilization had to have caused him distress and physical discomfort. Taking into account the cumulative effect the force used on applicant earlier that day and strapping to a bed, the Court ruled that Mr. Tali had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the Convention.

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